Echoes

Chapter 7

Captain Price watched with trepidation as the medical staff checked machines and the young man's vital signs. He waited in anticipation, half expecting them to pull in a crash cart and start resuscitation. Ghost had always been a stubborn bastard and he'd always pulled through, no matter what. But after so many weeks of no signs of him responding, Price had lost hope of the man ever recovering and now wondered, if this was him finally letting go.

Glancing round, he saw that the woman who'd been in the room, had escaped. He was beyond pissed. He and his team had diligently watched over Simon since he'd been admitted to the hospital and his presence here was a carefully guarded secret. So who the hell was this woman and what was she doing here?

Glancing back at Simon, he could see his hand reaching out to where the woman had been sitting, as thought he was trying to find her. Watching him blindly feel around beside him for someone who'd now gone, Price felt his heart drop at the sight, realising that in his panic, he'd scared her away. "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" he barked at the staff.

One of the nurses looked up at him "He's regaining consciousness sir" she replied.

Once the nurses had completed their checks and the alarms had been turned off, Price sat on the chair by the bed and scratched his beard. He looked over the young man lying there and thought back over the last several weeks. 

When he'd heard the explosion and saw the building collapse, his first thought was "Did everyone get out?". Checking in with all personnel, he was horrified to find out that Ghost was unaccounted for. They'd immediately started a search and rescue, before finding Ghost's battered and unconscious form, in the now collapsed stairwell.

Price never left anyone in the field, so he immediately called for emergency evac and accompanied Simon to the nearby base for emergency medical treatment. The doctors weren't hopeful with the extent of his injuries, but Price refused to accept that Simon couldn't pull through. Hell he'd seen him beaten and shot and still fight like he'd just had a full night's sleep. He had to pull through. It had taken nearly a week to arrange for a medical transport willing to take them back to the states.

On admission, the doctors had examined and performed scans before taking him into surgery for an intracranial haemorrhage. It had been touch and go, with them having to resuscitate the man several times, before stabilising him. The surgeons were blunt in their assessment, concluding that he wasn't expected to survive for long, but Price was undeterred. Simon had been put into a medically induced coma to allow his brain to heal, and the waiting started.

For 5 weeks, the waiting continued. The doctors then informed Price that the swelling had receded enough to risk bringing him out of coma, but cautioned that he may never regain consciousness, and if he did, he would surely have suffered brain damage. For two weeks, Price sat with Simon and talked to him, hoping that something would get through. He felt responsible for the man, well he did for all his men, but Simon, especially so. 

He knew little of his past, only that it had been brutal and violent enough for him to fake his own death and live anonymously and in secrecy. On paper, Simon didn't exist and Price was happy to continue protecting him.

He'd understood that Simon had no family and no home, choosing to always be on duty, except for the occasional secret trips away from base on the rare chance he accepted leave. Price knew nothing of him outside of the task force, no hobbies, interests or where he would disappear off to. So where did this young woman fit in? Ghost flatly refused to discuss anything that wasn't mission related, so there definitely would never be any chance of him telling Price who she was.

So outside of the task force, Price had no-one to call for him, no-one to come and sit by his side, and he suspected, no-one to mourn him when he died. But now, this young woman turns up out of nowhere and Simon starts to respond as though he'd been waiting for her. The feeling of guilt welled up again, that he'd chased her off without finding out who she was. Now the new period of waiting started, to see how much of Simon would survive as he clawed his way back from the dead.